Electricite´ de France conducts a study on the effects of metallurgical structures of austenitic stainless steel welds on ultrasonic wave propagation for application to ultrasonic nondestructive testing. Two complementary methods are performed: a direct experimental study on various kinds of welds and a theoretical study using ultrasonic simulation tools. This simulation study makes use of two different models. The first, called ULTSON-2D, is a finite element code developed by the EDF Research and Development Division. It is adapted to orthotropic media and heterogeneous structures and takes into account the scattering of waves from flaws such as cracks and holes. The second, called Champ-Sons is a 3D semi-analytical code developed by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) which allows to predict ultrasonic beam radiation into anisotropic and heterogeneous media. Both models deal with broadband excitation pulses since they are time-dependent. The present study aims at evaluating the ability of the two models to predict typical beam distortion effects in complex anisotropic and heterogeneous weld structures as compared to experimental measurements. This study is based on preliminary results of weld structural characterization presented in a companion paper. ©2000 American Institute of Physics.